Ex-Blackpool defender accuses Bolton Wanderers players of not doing 'what's required' following heavy defeat

The Trotters missed out on a place in the Championship following a defeat to Oxford United in the play-off final back in May, and have struggled to bounce back at times in the months since.

Evatt, who played for the Seasiders between 2007 and 2013, has been in charge at the Toughsheet Community Stadium since 2020, after previously managing Barrow.

While at the helm, the 42-year-old has guided Bolton to promotion from League Two and has won the EFL Trophy, but pressure has been on the retired centre back in recent times.

The Wanderers currently sit 10 in the third tier, with 23 points from their first 14 games.

In the last fortnight, they have been dumped out of the FA Cup by Walsall and have been on the end of a 5-0 defeat away to Stockport County, with their next league outing coming against Blackpool on November 23.

Reflecting on how his team reacted to Saturday’s loss at Edgeley Park, Evatt told The Bolton News: “We have had an honest conversation in there, which initially the players led, and it is about time they started telling each other the truth.

“It is about time. There are some players in there that are underperforming and some players in there that aren’t doing what are required to do, day-in, day-out, as a professional football player. It is your job to do the right things.

“In football sometimes, and I was one for 21 years, everyone wants to make excuses, everyone wants to look at everyone else and play the blame game. You have to be honest with yourself, that is where it starts.

“I will ask myself, the staff will ask themselves, the player should ask themselves, are they doing everything within their power to make sure we are doing the right things on a daily basis because it all has a material impact.

“The standards in training, the standards on the training ground, the standards off the pitch, it all relates and correlates to Saturdays and some need to do it better, simple as that.”